Comings and Goings

The field for the Mets’ patchwork rotation narrowed today as Dave Williams had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck. This comes as somewhat of a surprise as he only first experienced the discomfort when he began throwing earlier this month. When he will be able to resume baseball activities is up in the air and the Mets’ pitching flexibility just got a little tighter.

But at least the Amazin’s will have another young pup in camp. The Mets agreed to a minor-league contract with 41-year old Ruben Sierra. Can you imagine how many ridiculous statistics announcers would be able to talk about if Sierra made the team and batted alongside Julio Franco? That was the oldest double play in history.

Can’t wait.

Willie’s Back

Yesterday I wrote that people were beginning to notice that the Mets and Willie Randolph hadn’t agreed on a contract extension. Maybe Omar Minaya noticed the calendar was creeping towards February as well because the Daily News is reporting Randolph has reached a three-year extension with the Mets. The Associated Press is adding that the deal is expected to be officially announced tomorrow.

The Daily News story says that the Mets will have a team option for a fourth season in 2010 and that Randolph will be making $2 million by the third year. If that is true, then it is a heck of a job by Randolph’s representation. For a manager with two years of experience who was only getting a raise this season to $700,000 to nearly triple that in three years is nothing short of amazing. That will put him among the Jim Leylands and Ozzie Guillens of the world.

I hope Randolph belongs in that echelon, but I don’t know how anyone can be sure of that at this point. As I alluded to yesterday, we’ve yet to decipher the breakdown of how much or how little Randolph had to do with the Mets success this past season. Willie did a lot with a lot last season and did a little less with a little less the year before. The Mets improved under Willie in 2005, but so did the roster. They improved a little more in 2006, but so did the roster.

This season will be a good indicator for Randolph as the Mets are not going to enter the season measurably better than they ended last season — though the same cannot be said of the Braves and Phillies, who both improved this offseason. If Randolph can keep the Mets in the NL East penthouse while waiting for Pedro Martinez’s possible return or trade deadline reinforcements, then I will get behind Randolph with all my Mets fandom. Until then, I’m simply pleased to see him get a raise and eliminate the distraction prior to spring training.

Floyd Departs

It comes as very little surprise that the Chicago Cubs finalized their deal with Cliff Floyd today, thus ending his tenure with the Amazin’s. As the proud owner of a white Cliff Floyd No. 30 home Mets jersey, it’s a sad day for me, though I’ve been prepared for this day for the better part of a year. With the Mets’ wealth of top outfield prospects in their farm system, it was highly unlikely the team would consider devoting any more payroll to the oft-injured Floyd.

What I find really unfortunate, however, is Floyd’s final at-bat in that fateful NLCS Game 7 last October. Seeing Floyd, someone who came up huge in quite a few clutch spots for the Mets over the years when the rest of the lineup repeatedly came up small, reduced to a hobbling hacker was disappointing. Check the archives. At that very moment, I believed he could do it.

Only he couldn’t. That’s the last memory. Thankfully, it’s not the only one.

Three Years… You’re Out!

One of the stranger stories in the Mets’ storied history came to a close yesterday when 18-year old Ryan Leli was banned from Shea Stadium for three years after impersonating a reporter last August in order to meet Mike Piazza. Of course, the third year of that ban will be fairly moot as the Mets are only playing two more seasons at Shea.

But it’s quite the tale. (You’ll likely need to log in to the NY Times site. Sorry.) Fake credentials. Movie sets. Celebrity events. And yes, even the visitor’s clubhouse in Flushing. What’s fascinating about this guy is that he got into movie premieres, braved meeting Tom Cruise, and even got his meet-and-greet with Piazza. But he gets busted when? Trying to get into a Mets-Rockies game.

Was Clint Hurdle really listed right after Sean Combs on his celebrity wishlist?

Where’s Willie?

I thought I’d be making light-hearted comments about how Willie Randolph would be spending his increased expendable income by now. But as many people are starting to notice, Randolph still hasn’t received a new contract from the Mets. If the season started today, Willie would make $700,000 in the third year of his managerial contract.

I’m surprised it’s taken this long, but I also don’t think the Mets should be bending over backwards to give Randolph millions upon millions, such as the 3-year/$2 million deal Randolph is reportedly seeking. Let’s keep in mind he met (forgive the pun) expectations this season. The Mets were talented and supposed to be a playoff team. Yes, they had a massive NL East lead, but that had more to do with the level of play of the Braves, Phils, Marlins and Nationals than it did with the Mets.

Randolph deserves a raise. Something in the low $1 millions over three years would be a fair deal for a still young New York manager and a significant uptick in his paygrade.

Likes and Dislikes

So John Thomson doesn’t like Paul Lo Duca, the Mets didn’t like the medical report on Mark Mulder and Pedro Martinez doesn’t like to rush.

But first things first, the Mets liked Scott Schoeneweis enough to offer him a three-year, $10.8 million deal. The lefty reliever split his season between Toronto and Cincy last season and like most pitchers, fared far better in the Senior Circuit. But he was really, really better, going 2-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA for the Reds. So if he can recreate some of that success, he can fit right into the Mets pen and help fill the void left by Chad Bradford and Darren Oliver. Finally, something positive to say about the Mets this offseason that didn’t include the words, “at least they didn’t pay that much for…”

As for Martinez, he said he’s feeling good, but that he’s not going to rush back because he’s trying to get right for the rest of his career not just for next season. OK, that sounds good because no one wants him to come back too soon and suffer an unnecessary setback, but it also can be translated to read, “I don’t know when or if I’m pitching next season.” He’s a bonus. A trade deadline coup. Counting on anything more would just be naive.

But it won’t be Mulder joining Martinez as a midseason surprise for the Mets, as he re-signed with the Cardinals for a wacky 2-year, $13M deal that could grow to 4-year, $45M if he hits all his performance bonuses over the next two years. The word for the last couple weeks has been that the Mets weren’t too thrilled with Mulder’s return from rotator-cuff surgery and they cooled significantly on the lefty. Frankly, the Mets don’t need any more question marks for their rotation so let the World Champs take the flier on him.

And then there’s Thomson, who signed with the Blue Jays rather than the Mets because he’s “not really into how (Lo Duca) acts behind the plate.” He’s also not really into how Lo Duca acts while at the plate. As our Yankee beat guy Peter Abraham will report in tomorrow’s Home News Tribune, Lo Duca handed Thomson a 1-0 defeat last April 29 with a home run, while Cliff Floyd, who Thomson called “shaky” defensively, made two key game-saving catches in left. A little more about that game: it was the first Tom Glavine win at Turner Field against the Braves and gave the Mets their first series win against the Braves in Atlanta since August 2003. I guess that one does still upset Thomson a bit. Too bad he didn’t count on people using the Internet to investigate the origins of his distaste for Lo Duca and Floyd.

Hall of Fame

In a surprise ranking right up there with Road Runner outsmarting Wile E. Coyote, a boat sinking at the end of “Titanic,” and Jack Bauer saving another day, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were elected to the Hall of Fame today.

Ripken garnered the third highest percentage ever for the Hall, despite this trendy growing backlash against the Oriole great. I’ve seen way too much discussion lately questioning just how good Ripken was and everyone couches it as, “well, he’s a Hall of Famer but…” In the mid-1990s, those kind of statements would have gotten you committed, but apparently we’ve become more astute over the last six or seven years. Did I miss these damning revelations against Ripken? Let the guy enjoy his day, he deserves it.

And then there’s Mark McGwire paying for the sins of steroids. For years now I’ve held the same opinion on steroids: I’m not going to get up in arms about it because I truly believe most athletes take something, thus negating the supposed competitive advantage, but a large portion of the country will freak in that “What about the children?” way, so MLB needs to at least give the impression they are cleaning up the sport. MLB, of course, failed miserably at that and continues to pay the price today as now their ridiculous “tests that don’t count” are at the heart of the government-MLB struggle.

But the sport itself isn’t the only casualty here. McGwire’s reputation is as well. Now the slugger did himself no favors with his pathetic performance before Congress, but MLB has failed McGwire as well. When you consider everything McGwire did for the sport in 1998, putting the national back in national pastime, as the country became enamored with his and Sammy Sosa’s pursuit of the elusive home run record, you would think MLB would do a little more to protect their once-golden boy. If for nothing else, it would have benefitted the sport to have McGwire be a viable ambassador, rather than the humbled hermit he has become. But they owed it to McGwire too.

It wouldn’t have taken much for baseball to handle this situation differently and protect its players in the process. Three or four years ago, Bud Selig could have held a press conference admitting that baseball had been slow to recognize the emergence and dangers of performance enhancing drugs, but that the players during the late 1990s were acting within the rules of the game at the time. Now that would have meant that the players association would have had to allow baseball to institute a stringent policy from that point forward and the McGwires of the world would have to talk a little about the past. But can’t we all agree that would be far more pleasant than what we’re left with today?

Because as a result, McGwire got less than 25 percent in voting for the Hall. It will go up in future years as those who were merely keeping him off in his first year will relent. But it’s doubtful he will ever have that bust in Cooperstown. And that’s ridiculous.

But then again, Pete Rose would be in my Hall of Fame too.